An ear candle with an integrated retaining member, wherein the retaining member is disposed within the ear candle at a rear end, i.e. at an end of the ear candle at the side of the ear, is part of the prior art (DE 10 2006 004 138 A1).
This retaining member is an air-permeable retaining member having a cross-sectional surface area which has the shape of a pointed cone or a frustrum of a cone or a dome or a pitched roof or a pyramid or a hollow cylinder, the point or the frustrum or the curvature of this retaining member being oriented towards a front end of the ear candle.
The ear candle substantially consists of a cotton fabric impregnated with wax. The wax used can be a natural wax such as beeswax, for instance. It is also possible to use synthetic waxes such as stearin or paraffin. However, natural waxes are preferred. The cotton fabric is rolled into a tube in such a way that, during rolling, at least one layer of the fabric overlaps or that several layers of the fabric lie one on top of the other.
With one end, this tube is placed on the external ear canal and the other end is set alight so that an open flame is produced.
The action of the ear candles is purely physical. A slight negative pressure (chimney effect) and the vibration waves of the air in the candle caused by the movement of the flame act like a gentle massage of the eardrum. This leads to an intense feeling of pleasant warmth and a pressure equalization in the area of the ears, the frontal and nasal sinuses that is perceived as liberating.
The amount of wax in the cotton fabric is adapted to the combustion process. This means that optimally, the ear candle is supposed to burn as residue-free as possible.
A plume of ash, which usually snaps off at the end, is left during burning.
A gas mixture is produced inside the ear candle. The gas mixture cools off in the ear candle, falls down, condensates and would enter the external ear canal unimpeded but for the retaining member.
Moreover, when the ear candle burns down, the wax melts. In rare cases, if too large an amount of wax is provided, the wax may also flow downwards in the ear candle and would enter the external ear canal but for the retaining member.
The ear candle with a retaining member described in the prior art (DE 10 2006 004 138 A1) is disadvantageous in that the retaining member described therein either does not sufficiently retain the condensate produced and possible run-off wax, depending on what material the retaining member consists of, for example, if it consists of a fly screen or a fine-mesh wire. If the retaining member consists of a filter paper or a filter fabric, it will easily clog so that air-permeability is not ensured any more.